Phone hacking: Judge-led inquiry could be expanded to cover BBC and Twitter

The judge-led inquiry into phone hacking could be expanded to include the
likes of the BBC and Twitter.

A Commons motion signed by an unprecedented group of influential backbench MPs from all parties is calling for Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry to be expanded outside the press.

The Early Day Motion, proposed by Tory MP Bill Cash, suggests that broadcasters and social media networks should be included. This would mean that, as well as newspapers, the inquiry would scrutinise the activities of the BBC, Sky News and ITV News, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Yesterday Mr Cash said that it was being considered by Downing Street. Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to agree the terms of reference for the new inquiry by the time Parliament rises on Tuesday.

The motion says: “The terms of reference of the Leveson Inquiry must be extended to the whole media, including sound, visual and social media, and to include blagging and other unethical or illegal practices and should not be confined to phone hacking.”

It has been signed by 12 select committee chairmen, including John Whittingdale, the Culture, Media and Sport committee chairman, and Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Home Affairs select committee.

The motion is also backed by Andrew Miller, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party and Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservatives’ backbench 1922 committee.

Others who have lent their support include Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Parliamentary group leader in Westminster.

The motion is also supported by Chris Bryant, the campaigning Labour MP who has been at the forefront of pursuing News International over the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Cash said: “It is crucial that the terms of reference of the Leveson Inquiry must include the whole media, and including blagging and other unethical or illegal practices and should not be confined to phone hacking.

“We must return to basic principles which can then be applied to everyone in media, not just those accused of alleged phone hacking at one newspaper, if we are to see justice in this inquiry.”

Mr Cash first raised the issue of expanding the inquiry on Thursday in the Commons, however Sir George Young, the Leader of the Commons, said that the broadcasting media already had their own statutory regulator.

However Mr Cash said this “misses the point”, adding: “This is not the case with regards to certain parts of the non-press media such as the BBC who are governed by Charter and in any event, the issue is whether the regulation has worked.

“The inquiry requires consistency across the board on a common baseline and it must therefore cross over the entire media including the role of Ofcom, the Press Complaints Commission and include ethics, management and ownership, in a manner which is proportionate and consistent with a responsible and free press.”

The official spokesman for the Prime Minister said Downing Street would consider the proposals as it draws up the terms of reference. He said: “The terms of reference we published on Wednesday were draft terms of reference.

“The reason they were draft was because we expected people to have views on the terms of reference on the scope of the inquiry and we will obviously reflect on any suggestions that are made.”

Meanwhile, the judge-led inquiry into the phone hacking scandal must not result in a “knee-jerk” clampdown on press freedom, former BBC chairman Lord Grade has said.

Lord Grade, who as Michael Grade led the corporation from 2004 to 2006, told peers there were “overwhelming arguments” against statutory control.

He said: “A robust and free Press is an essential dynamic in a functioning democracy.”